Attending a Church School

At Avonmouth Church of England School and Nursery we are a church school and are linked very closely to St Andrew's Church in Avonmouth. Our school welcomes children from all walks of life.

The vicar at St Andrew’s Church, Reverend Andy Murray, works very closely with the school. He sits on our Governing Body as a Foundation governor. Reverend Andy is also a member of our Parent’s Forum and regularly leads assemblies in school. The children visit St Andrew’s Church where we hold some of our services but also we have taken part in the Star Trail and Easter Trails.

As a church school, we strive to develop the relationship between the church and the school and we have a set of Christian Values which underpin all the work we do in school. The Christian Values impact on much of the learning in school both academically, behaviourally, emotionally and socially as they help teach children about right and wrong and how to make behaviour choices. This together with the RE curriculum, SMSC and British Values help children to understand how we should behave, treat and respect one another and look after the world in which we live.

Church schools have a daily act of worship or assembly, where we come together to share stories and have the opportunity for quiet reflection, thought and prayer. The stories may come from the Bible or from other cultures, or be stories that help children to understand one of our Christian values or morals. We also sing songs or hymns.

We have a Reflection Area where the children can have the opportunity to sit quietly and think. There is also our Prayer book where children can record their thoughts if they wish or write a prayer. Some of these prayers are shared in our weekly Celebration assembly. Each Friday we have a Celebration Assembly where we reflect on all the fantastic things that have happened during the week. In particular we think about our Christian Values for the term and present our weekly Christian Values certificate.

We teach RE every week through a careful designed curriculum. Our RE lessons teach about Christianity as well as a range of other faiths. Children have a special book to record their RE work in and it is taught in all year groups across the school.

Being a Church School is very special to us and underpins both the work we do and the ethos of our school where we work together to inspire and engage children who are happy in their learning.

Please follow this link to see the version of The Lord's Prayer that we use with the children during Collective Worship.

Each class also have time in class for prayer each day. This is usually before lunch but may also be at the end of the day or during a class assembly. The Worship Committee have worked to develop a school prayer. After a period of consultation we have adopted the prayer below. We have learnt it and use it regularly.